In the technology of stationary gas turbines, as they are used in combined cycle power plants, gas turbine plants with sequential combustion are known, in which the hot gas which comes from a first combustion chamber is expanded in a first turbine, then introduced into a second combustion chamber and reheated there, and finally performs work once more in a second turbine (see, for example, documents EP-A1-0 620 362 or EP-A2-0 718 470 or the article by D. K. Mukherjee, “State-of-the-art gas turbines—a brief update”, ABB review 2/1997, pp. 4-14, and F. Joos et al., “Entwicklung des sequentiellen Verbrennungssystems füar die Gasturbinenfamilie GT24/GT26” [Development of the sequential combustion system for the gas turbine family GT24/GT26], ABB Technik 4/1998, pp. 4-16). In the known gas turbines of the GT24 and GT26 types, so-called EV burners are used in the first combustion chamber, and so-called SEV burners are used in the second combustion chamber. All the aforementioned documents form an integrated component part of this application. In today's energy markets, the flexibility of operation of a power plant is of crucial importance for commercial success. Therefore, there is a great demand for flexibility and it is expected that power plants are in the position to operate between the extremes of daily requirement, start-and-stop operation and base load operation.
For this flexible use, gas turbine plants with sequential combustion which are mentioned above (for example, types GT24/GT26) have proved their worth, because they:                have high reliability when starting up,        can be flexibly operated in the load range between 40% and 100%,        have high efficiency and low emissions values in partial load mode, and        are flexible with regard to the composition of gaseous fuels and can also be selectively operated with liquid and gaseous fuels (dual fuel capability), or can also be operated with liquid and/or gaseous fuels.        
However, there are times of very low demand for electrical power, in which operation at partial load compared with demand is still too high, or on account of low tariffs and high fuel costs, precisely because of this low demand, is not economical. The operator is then in the dilemma either to operate the plant at relatively higher partial load, in order to observe the limits with regard to emissions values, or to temporarily completely shut down the plant, which, during the returning to service, makes a new starting process necessary, which for many technical and economical considerations is always to be avoided per se.